Okay, so after Jesus rose from the dead, why did He reveal Himself in so many different ways? John presents a tender scene in the garden, with Jesus speaking to Mary through her tears, calming her confusion and allowing her to hold Him close, if only for a moment (John 20:14-17). But as He walked on the road with a couple of His other disciples, He kept them from recognizing Him until He had first taken them through an Old Testament study, explaining how the prophets had predicted His suffering, death, and resurrection (Luke 24:16, 25-26). On yet another occasion, He showed up to a larger group, including all eleven of His surviving disciples, and invited them to touch Him. In fact, He even ate some fish to show them that He wasn’t just a ghost (Luke 24:33-42). Why all the variation?

Well, in the first place, such diverse experiences demonstrate that when people saw the resurrected Christ they weren’t just experiencing some sort of mass hallucination. They also hadn’t rehearsed a lie so that they all said exactly the same thing. No, they really had encountered Jesus in all sorts of different ways, and thus we can have great confidence that they were all telling us the truth about what they saw and heard and felt.

But I wonder if there’s not another lesson in their varied experiences: could it be that Jesus revealed Himself in such a variety of ways because we all have different needs, and because we all learn in different ways? For example, He taught a Bible study to the two men on the road to Emmaus, so why not to the eleven disciples? Well, the eleven had been His students for three years, so they had probably heard all those things before; Jesus just had to open their minds to understand what He had already taught them (Luke 24:45). And Mary? She didn’t need to understand all those technical details in order to believe Jesus was alive: one hug was worth a thousand words to her.

And the good news is that Jesus still reveals Himself to people in the different ways that we can understand. For after all, Jesus didn’t allow Himself to be crucified for a nameless, faceless mass of people: He gave Himself up for you and for me and for countless other individual people whom He loves more than His own life. So, no matter how much or how little you know about Him, no matter what your personal experience with Jesus may be, isn’t the resurrected Christ worthy of our trust and our love?

Luke 24:30-43 (NASB)

30 And it came about that when He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them.
31 And their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight.
32 And they said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?”
33 And they arose that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them,
34 saying, “The Lord has really risen, and has appeared to Simon.”
35 And they began to relate their experiences on the road and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.
36 And while they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst.
37 But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit.
38 And He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
39 “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
40 And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet .
41 And while they still could not believe it for joy and were marveling, He said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
42 And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish;
43 and He took it and ate it before them.